RE: OTA TV antennas

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
firefighterjake

firefighterjake

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Jul 22, 2008
19,588
Unity/Bangor, Maine
I'm thinking of upgrading my TV antenna as it is a bit beat up and missing a vane.

Right now we're in a location so that we are able to pull the TV stations from the two "metropolitan" areas of Bangor and Portland . . . although one of the stations in the south (still using VHF I believe) sometimes cuts out. My wife also noted that when it is windy sometimes the stations cut out as the antenna (roof mounted with a rotor) moves a bit.

Wondering if folks have any specific recommendations on an antenna upgrade which will continue to give us the stations we have now . . . and perhaps clear things up a bit.

My current TV antenna is a Radio Shack/Antenna Craft VU-160XR.

Wondering specifically about the HD Stacker (seen on DennysAntennaService and reportedly made by Winegard) and Winegard HD8200U.
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] RE: OTA TV antennas
    RadioShackantenna.webp
    127.3 KB · Views: 244
firefighterjake said:
I'm thinking of upgrading my TV antenna as it is a bit beat up and missing a vane.

Right now we're in a location so that we are able to pull the TV stations from the two "metropolitan" areas of Bangor and Portland . . . although one of the stations in the south (still using VHF I believe) sometimes cuts out. My wife also noted that when it is windy sometimes the stations cut out as the antenna (roof mounted with a rotor) moves a bit.

Wondering if folks have any specific recommendations on an antenna upgrade which will continue to give us the stations we have now . . . and perhaps clear things up a bit.

My current TV antenna is a Radio Shack/Antenna Craft VU-160XR.

Wondering specifically about the HD Stacker (seen on DennysAntennaService and reportedly made by Winegard) and Winegard HD8200U.
Click to expand...
I have been having good luck with this one. Not a glitch.
Amazon product ASIN B071V7SV6P
 
I have been using my channelmaster DB4 or 6, I don't think they make it anymore but now it's called this:

https://www.channelmaster.com/Digital_HDTV_Outdoor_TV_Antenna_p/cm-4221hd.htm

For several years now. Our stations transmit from about 40 miles away and from pretty close together so no rotator is needed.

Antenna TV is really great. The quality is superb since they went digital and it's free!

Use tv fool or antenna web to locate the transmitters distance, angle, and what type of antenna you need.


www.antennaweb.org

Antenna Signal Prediction

Which broadcast channels can you receive for free? It's time you cut the cord!
www.antennaweb.org www.antennaweb.org
 
  • Like
Reactions: semipro
jake if your stations are still vhf most uhf antenna's will pickup vhf but not to far out. also from what i been reading these smaller antenna's that have a amplifier built in or mounted at the antenna don't usually go a long time before they fail usually around 2 years. the antenna that you are running is good, it picks up vhf and uhf and if you need to you can put on your own amp and it can be indoors incase it goes bad. as long as the radials don't bend that antenna you have is great and for 160 miles vhf. tighten it up. and a old cb radio trick that i used to do to keep my beam antenna in one piece was to aim the antenna into the wind. my beams survived 80 to 90 miles a hour doing that. meaning don't put the boom of the antenna to catch the wind or it will come down. and as the sales pitch of high def antenna's there is no such animal. it's just a sales pitch. i used to make antenna's for fun as a kid all they do is pick up a frequency not definition
 
  • Like
Reactions: firefighterjake
I have placed antennae on 3 different homes over the years. My best advice is to match the antenna to your house and the location of the stations. When I lived in the city I had an omnidirectional antenna that worked well in the attic. I currently have a DB8 antenna attached to the chimeny that that has a wide beam as the stations are to my N and NE with the furthest about 80 miles away.
 
I replaced my big ole Channel Master last year with a tiny little thing that came highly recommended by the only remaining antenna service guy in our area...grouchy ole fart, but forthcoming with good antenna info, he said this is the only antenna he stocks anymore, because it just always works.
I had some reservations because it was sooo much smaller than my old CM (that was 15' long!) but since he had one in stock, the price wasn't terrible (Amazon was cheaper, but I was willing to pay him more for all the great "free" info he gave me) plus no waiting, took my old one down, new one back up, and crystal clear TV that night!
And although I still have an amp on my system (due to extra long cables) I was able to eliminate the pre-amp, just as antenna dude said I could...he told me this new antenna would get more channels with no pre-amp, than my old one did with one (and it did have one) and he was right! I've never got a better signal, or more channels. We get about 48 channels in total, if you count all the sub channels individually.
Just FYI, we are about 45 miles (as the crow flies) from the furthest station.
Here is the antenna I put up...and waaaayyyy easier to drag up the tower than that old behemoth would have been! https://www.channelmaster.com/Digital_HDTV_Outdoor_TV_Antenna_p/cm-4228hd.htm
I was also looking at that Denny's antenna too...just didn't want to wait on it to ship, since I was already all set up for tower climbing that day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: firefighterjake
fbelec said:
i used to make antenna's for fun as a kid
Click to expand...
You didn't happen to use the Radio Amateur's Handbook as a guide did you? I did.
 
i'm not sure it was 45 years ago. i was a kid. started doing it as needed when i was 10 about 50 years ago made a 3 element beam for uhf channel that was distant from the house. the book was blue and that's all i can remember.
 
Using internet info for DIY Ota antenna, I made my first antenna just about 10 years ago out of a 2x6 and stripped 10 gauge romex wire. I bought a balun, the thing you thread coax to, from radio shack. I just couldn’t believe how well it worked and how clear the picture was. I still use that antenna in the barn and then the channel master dB6 in the attic of my home.
 
highbeam is the home made antenna for uhf or vhf. i ask because the vhf radials would be long and would sag
 
I installed this antenna last fall. we had it indoors for a while but our indoor reception was affected by too many variables, particularly those weather-related, which made reception poor on some days. We are about 25 miles from the station. I put the antenna outdoors and it made a world of difference. It's located only about 6' from where it was indoors and maybe a foot or two higher, but the difference is major. Most stations went from about 65 signal strength up to 90 to 100 on the tv's strength-o-meter. We rarely have reception issues now.

Amazon product ASIN B007RH5GZI
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grizzerbear and Highbeam
fbelec said:
highbeam is the home made antenna for uhf or vhf. i ask because the vhf radials would be long and would sag
Click to expand...

It is optimized for uhf, the whiskers are only about 12”. Not the big old school 15’ long vhf! It looks just like the channel master db4 that I linked above if you squint. That’s why I built it, as a test before I bought the real thing. It actually picks up more channels than the commercial version.

I did a search and here’s a close copy of the homemade antenna. Super easy. Impress your friends! I bought a balun and it has a resistance to it, this video seems to skip that.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
  • Like
Reactions: brenndatomu
lsucet said:
I have been having good luck with this one. Not a glitch.
Amazon product ASIN B071V7SV6P
Click to expand...

Looks like there are a lot of versions of this. I got one from Walmart for $59. Over a year ago. It picks up all the locals which is good considering some are like 40 miles away and I live in the woods. I didn’t put outside because I wanted it to last longer. So I put it upstairs in the spare bedroom using a microphone stand as a base.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Highbeam and lsucet
tlc1976 said:
Looks like there are a lot of versions of this. I got one from Walmart for $59. Over a year ago. It picks up all the locals which is good considering some are like 40 miles away and I live in the woods. I didn’t put outside because I wanted it to last longer. So I put it upstairs in the spare bedroom using a microphone stand as a base.
Click to expand...
I have mine outside about 3 ft higher than the two story part of the house. I don't know about durability but it has been taking some nasty windy conditions lately and still standing. Lol.
But for sure the reception is great. I keep the box off, no need of amplifier at least in my case. Very good for the price.
 
lsucet said:
I have mine outside about 3 ft higher than the two story part of the house. I don't know about durability but it has been taking some nasty windy conditions lately and still standing. Lol.
But for sure the reception is great. I keep the box off, no need of amplifier at least in my case. Very good for the price.
Click to expand...

If you know that your broadcast points are all in one direction you can mount these modern flat antennas to the wall on the side of your house on the outside towards the broadcast points like hanging a picture. That way you get the benefits of an outdoor antenna without the lightning rod effect , wind problems, or objections from the aesthetic department.

Probably just as important as the transition from analog to digital has been the move of almost all channels up to the uhf bands from the vhf range. This means much smaller antennas, and very often flat ones. Supposedly the vhf bands are being sold off to the communications people.
 
Highbeam said:
If you know that your broadcast points are all in one direction you can mount these modern flat antennas to the wall on the side of your house on the outside towards the broadcast points like hanging a picture. That way you get the benefits of an outdoor antenna without the lightning rod effect , wind problems, or objections from the aesthetic department.

Probably just as important as the transition from analog to digital has been the move of almost all channels up to the uhf bands from the vhf range. This means much smaller antennas, and very often flat ones. Supposedly the vhf bands are being sold off to the communications people.
Click to expand...
I Know what you're saying. Over the years I have been using different and some get some channel good and other not and never happy. Too many mountain around. Being a ham operator I can build one good one but for the money now a days for this little things and their capabilities, is not worth it. I will spend more in material than the cost of one. We just watch news at 10:00 PM. Any other tv activity is Netflix and other apps we use.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Highbeam
I live south of Portland on the coast they upgraded all the networks except ABC in the past 6 months reception is much much better. ABC is vhf so it has always come in for me.
 
We dumped our dish after realizing we were dropping close to $1200 a year on crap we don't watch. The shows on TV now days are horrible, the funny writers, left in the 80's. Our antennae is inside, and works OK, sometimes it works, other times not so great. We split Netflix with our daughter, so we pay about $7 a month for TV, and we are not big watchers, we watch about an hour each night.
 
These days I have a Roku stick and there is an application on it called Real News. Overthe air is not an option for me due to where I live. I can get a lot of the regional stations local news 24/7. Its lot more convenient than waiting for the local news. These days I just have internet service and Amazon prime which basically pays for itself in shipping charges. I am holding onto my landline phone but its days are numbered as i can get voice over IP phone for less. My guess is the various satellite internet options will get rid of the monopoly the cable companies have in my area for internet (no fiber internet available in my rural area).
 
peakbagger said:
These days I have a Roku stick and there is an application on it called Real News. Overthe air is not an option for me due to where I live. I can get a lot of the regional stations local news 24/7. Its lot more convenient than waiting for the local news. These days I just have internet service and Amazon prime which basically pays for itself in shipping charges. I am holding onto my landline phone but its days are numbered as i can get voice over IP phone for less. My guess is the various satellite internet options will get rid of the monopoly the cable companies have in my area for internet (no fiber internet available in my rural area).
Click to expand...

We dumped our landline for Ooma 2-3 years ago. Absolutely no regrets. Went from a $100+ monthly phone bill to $4 (covers 911 fee), and got to keep our old phone number and use the same phones. Plus we all have cell phones anyway. Also thinking about doing the same with the work phone, but that would make our name & number disappear from the phone book. So still waffling on that.
 
maple1 said:
We dumped our landline for Ooma 2-3 years ago. Absolutely no regrets. Went from a $100+ monthly phone bill to $4 (covers 911 fee), and got to keep our old phone number and use the same phones. Plus we all have cell phones anyway. Also thinking about doing the same with the work phone, but that would make our name & number disappear from the phone book. So still waffling on that.
Click to expand...

We did the same . . . it's hard to beat the cost. Then again . . . other than calling a few family members and for take out we rarely use phones any more. Typically my friends and I communicate with each other using Facebook Messenger.
 
moey said:
I live south of Portland on the coast they upgraded all the networks except ABC in the past 6 months reception is much much better. ABC is vhf so it has always come in for me.
Click to expand...

So I discovered what might have happened to the one station -- WCSH 6 -- which has been coming in sporadically. Apparently the station moved the broadcast antenna down lower on the antenna. I am assuming they will move it back up to the original height at some point . . . I hope.
 
a little late but i thought i'd throw it in

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom